Tied Up
by XIV.XV
Summary: This is what happens when Cloud's stamina isn't quite up to par in Zack's presence. Rated for some mild language. Please R&R!


Cloud stood up from his seat across from his friend. The mess hall turned to watch.

"Zaaack!" Cloud pleaded. He was giving his friend his most heart wrenching 'innocent-trooper-look'. "How will I ever be good enough to try out for SOLDIER if I can't wield a sword properly? You have to train with me! Teach me. Please."

The look paid off. . .

"Cloud! Don't look at me that way. It makes me want to jump you sometime when you're alone somewhere, and do many, many bad things!" Zack said grinning. Cloud imitated a tomato. "I have Saturday off. Meet me at the training grounds at six o'clock. I'll help you then, but I can't stay long because I have a little dinner date with Sephiroth. Okay."

Cloud forgot himself and jumped on Zack.

"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me. I'm sooo happy!" Cloud said into Zack's neck.

Zack chuckled. "Cloud, I can feel how happy you are."

Cloud pulled away from Zack quickly.

"Bastard," Cloud glared at Zack. "You'd better be there! And you'd better not be late!"

Without another word, Cloud took his tray up and left the mess hall.

Saturday rolled around quickly for Cloud. He woke up kind of late, and showered. Once he was dressed, he walked to the mess hall and grabbed a small breakfast/lunch, and headed strait for the training grounds. There he watched the others train and memorized some moves that he wanted to learn for the rest of the day.

Finally, Zack strolled in.

"You came!" Cloud stood up from where he had been sitting. He was smiling brightly.

"You betcha! And I'm early too! It's 5:59," Zack proclaimed proudly. "Not let's get this party started."

Cloud laugh and nodded.

They headed for the center of the arena, and Cloud took up his sword.

"Like this?" Cloud asked trying to remember how Zack told him to stand with the sword.

"Not quite," Zack walked over to Cloud. "You need to spread you legs apart a bit more. And loosen your grip on the sword a bit…"

Zack continued to fix Cloud's stance until it was to his liking.

"Perfect! Are you ready?" Zack said stepping away picking up his own sword.

Cloud bounce and then nodded. "I think so."

"Then let's begin."

Zack charged Cloud. He just barely got his sword up in time to block the blow to his midsection. Then he had to bring the sword up farther to block the sword coming at his head. The first half an hour of their training continued in this same way. Zack was attacking, and Cloud was blocking.

Zack finally stopped. Cloud dropped the sword and basically fell to the ground panting. Zack snickered.

"Did I wear you out in that little amount of time? Damn. I must be good!" Zack laughed and walked over to Cloud. He held out his hand for Cloud, and helped him up. "You really need to work on your stamina. What were those greens that boosted stamina again?"

"Why do you ask?" Cloud asked, now suspicious of Zack's motives.

"Because you really need to eat some."

Cloud more or less growled at Zack. "Shut up."

"AWWW! You're so cute when you get all angry! You puff up just like a cute little kitten!" Zack cooed. "Mmm. I wonder how that happened."

"What?" Cloud snapped. He was on the verge of tackling his First class SOLDIER friend.

"How a human, chocobo, and cat made a child. And why they named it Cloud?!" Zack said grinning like an idiot.

That being what pushed Cloud over the edge, he dropped his sword and tackled his friend. He didn't take Zack down, but Cloud did catch him off guard enough to get a chocobo like 'wark' from him.

"HA! And you call me a chocobo! What was that sound again?" Cloud said with a triumphant grin on.

Zack replicated the sound. Cloud tried to keep a strait face, but, when Zack warked again, Cloud couldn't contain his laughter.

"You like that?" Zack asked. "Then c'mere. I'm a mama chocobo and you're my little baby. Get over here!"

Cloud's eyes widened. "Shit!"

Cloud took off running, Zack hot on his heels. Their training swords left to lay.

"Baby! Come back, Baby! I need to preen your feathers!" Zack warked again. Cloud laughed.

"Bad boy! You bad little, noisy puppy," Cloud called behind him laughing. "Down boy! Down!"

Zack cracked up, and stopped chasing Cloud. Cloud skidded to a halt.

"Cloud, you're weird," Zack said shaking his head still laughing. "C'mon, we need to finish your training for today."

Cloud stood there a minute longer making sure that Zack wasn't going to glomp him. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to be bombarded by Zack, he walked over and picked up his sword.

"Get over here," Cloud commanded.

Zack saluted. "Sir. Yes, Sir!"

Cloud just raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly.

"You ready?" Zack asked picking up his own sword.

"Yup," Cloud responded.

Zack nodded and began.

This time, Zack was teaching Cloud different moves of both offence and defense. They moved through each motion together, perfecting every little bit of it. This continued for an hour or so until Cloud could no longer hold up his sword. He fell to the floor panting.

"You okay, Spike?" Zack asked kneeling down next to Cloud.

"I…think…so," Cloud responded between breaths. "I can't move though. Too sore."

Zack smiled evilly. "Really?"

Cloud nodded.

Zack pushed Cloud over on to his stomach.

"Hmph," Cloud somewhat whined, but still did nothing.

Zack chuckled and shook his head "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get you something."

Cloud nodded and stayed there lying on his stomach, falling asleep.

Zack returned five minutes later to a sleeping Cloud. He had his fist pressed firmly against his mouth. He was barely breathing.

Zack cooed as he knelt down next to him.

"Cloud. Wake up, Cloud." Zack said softly as he shook him gently.

"Mmmm." Cloud rolled away from Zack.

Zack chuckled evilly and set to work.

The Great General Sephiroth sat asked desk. He was doing paperwork, and not getting very far. You see, he was doing just fine up to the point that he got a discipline report on none than Zackary Fair. Sephiroth read it.

Turns out that Zack had snuck into Hojo's lab after hours and had set the lab mice free. He was caught when he was opening the last cage by none other than Hojo himself. They then began to argue about what Zack had been doing, freeing abused animals, or steeling Shin-ra property. Hojo gave up arguing with Zack and filed a report on him.

Now here the whole report sat on Sephiroth's desk, completely distracting him.

He looked at the clock. Zack was to be there in five minutes.

While Sephiroth would never tell, he really enjoyed spending time with Zack, being with Zack allowed him to do things that he wouldn't normally do by himself. While, yes, Zack does do some really eccentric things sometimes, they always put a small, barely visible smile on his face.

There was one of those smiles on his face now as his second in command strolled into his office, carrying his favorite blonde cadet.

"Are ya ready for our dinner date?" Zack asked setting Cloud down right in the middle of Sephiroth's desk.

"Yes," Sephiroth said looking at Cloud. "Umm, Zack?"

"Yes?"

"Why is Cloud sleeping?"

"He fell asleep during training this morning. I didn't want him to wake up while I was carrying him so I… fed him some sleeping pills to keep him asleep!" Zack smiled at his brilliantness.

Sephiroth shook his head. "Okay, but that does not explain why the boy is hog tied."

"No. That's because you didn't ask."

Sephiroth growled slightly. "Why is Cloud hog tied? And if you don't give me the answer I want, I won't go with you…"

Zack grimaced. "I felt like it?"

"Zaack," Sephiroth scolded. "You can't just go around tying people up like this."

Zack frowned. "But I couldn't just leave him there! Someone would have come along and raped the poor kid!"

"The only person that would rape Cloud… is you."

Zack just stood there nodding his agreement to Sephiroth's statement. Sephiroth sighed.

"The reservations are at 8:30 right? C'mon, we have to get going now." Sephiroth said. Zack nodded.

"Let me untie him."

"No, Zack. Leave him be. You'll only wake him up. Those ropes are lose enough for him to get out if he wakes before we return. Let's go."

Zack grinned at Sephiroth. "Did I tell you that I love you today?"

Sephiroth smiled. "No, but I know."

Sephiroth went over and got a blanket out of the closet in his office, and covered the sleeping Cloud with it.

Zack grinned. "You two are so cute together."

"Yes, Zack. You tell that to us every time that we stand near to each other. It makes Cloud blush," Sephiroth finished tucking the blanket around Cloud. "Now we have to go, or they will give our reservation away."

"Shit!" Zack grabbed Sephiroth's hand, and ran out of the office, leaving Cloud to sleep.

Sephiroth returned to his office a few hours later to find Cloud still fast asleep on his desk. In his sleep, he had gotten his hands apart from his feet, and curled into a tight, little ball. Sephiroth made his was over to the desk.

"Cloud, Wake up Cloud," Sephiroth whispered leaning over Cloud's sleeping form to gently shake him.

"Hmph," Cloud rolled over in his sleep. His still bound hands coming up by his mouth. "Later."

Sephiroth chuckled. "No, Cloud. Now,"

Cloud cracked an eye, and, not recognizing his surroundings right away, slowing rolled over to face Sephiroth. Upon seeing nothing but the green glowing cat eyes, Cloud went crashing to the ground.

"I—I'm sorry, s—sir. It was Zack. All Zack." Cloud spouted out sleepily.

"I know, Cloud," Sephiroth responded quietly. "Don't worry about it, but you need to go to your bunk in the barracks."

Cloud looked up at Sephiroth, and then to a clock. "I can't. It's after 'lights out'. The doors are locked. I'm sorry, Sir."

Sephiroth closed his eyes mentally cursing whoever the person was who decided that it was a good idea to lock the barracks at 10:00 so that no one could in or out.

"It's not your fault. We'll just have to punish Zack for it later," Sephiroth responded. "Here."

Sephiroth leaned over and picked up Cloud bridal style.

"Umm, Sir?" Cloud asked. "What are you doing?"

"Didn't you ever learn to not question your superior officer?"

"Yes, but, because of Zack, I've also learned to always question my superior officer."

Sephiroth chuckled. "Good. Now lay your head against me and pretend to be asleep. I'm taking you to my apartment. You can sleep there. And yes, in the bed."

Cloud's face reddened at the last part, but he did what he was told. His head was on Sephiroth's right shoulder, but he could still hear his heart beating. In combination of that sound, and the smooth walking motion, Cloud fell back asleep before they reached the elevator.

Sephiroth chuckled to himself as he pressed the up button for the elevator, and waited. It came quickly (evidently no one else used it since he had come in.) He stepped in and hit the button for his floor.

Another thing that Sephiroth would never admit to Zack was how glad he was that Zack had introduced Cloud to himself. Even with Zack in his life, he was still steadily going insane but, Cloud's innocuous ways grounded Sephiroth. He cringed every time Cloud mentioned how he wanted to join SOLDIER, because he knows what it takes to get there.

Sephiroth sighed. There was no use in trying to talk Cloud out of trying out, but Sephiroth couldn't understand why Zack would help him. Maybe it was just Zack's inability to tell people, especially Cloud, 'no'.

The elevator chimed and the doors slid opened. Sephiroth stepped out and walked towards his apartment. This brought on another flood of happy Cloud memories.

Flashback

"Y'know Seph, with the amount of money you make, your apartment should look awesome!" Zack commented on their way to his apartment. "But since it doesn't, you should let me decorate it for you!"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't trust you with my credit card or pin number."

"Give those to Cloud!"

Cloud, who was standing behind Zack and Sephiroth in the elevator, looked up quickly, eyes wide.

Sephiroth remembered that this was only the third or fourth time that Cloud had ever been to his apartment; he was always nervous, and quiet. That was over a year ago.

"C'mon Seph," Zack said. "Let both of us decorate your place. With Cloud helping, nothing could go wrong!"

Sephiroth considered for a few seconds the responded. "I'll give it to Cloud and only Cloud. If he tells you, it'll be the end of any chance he has to get into SOLDIER. Okay?"

"That's mean, really mean, but I'll go on that!" Zack said back to Sephiroth. Then he threw an arm around Cloud's shoulders. "Don't worry Sephy! Everything'll be okie dokie!"

End Flashback

Sephiroth smiled as he walked to his now fully decorated apartment, Cloud still asleep in his arms. He arrived at the door and, with only minor difficulty, opened it. The sight still got him.

The entry way was a warm beige color; this gave way to his living room/kitchen area. This was painted a dusty red-orange rust color; the carpet was thick and the color of dark cream. There were many various pictures on the wall, but his favorite one was a huge picture of the planet in a sapient tone. He had his television was set more towards the side of the room with his black leather furniture around it. His small kitchen was done and stocked.

They even did his bath room, but his favorite room was the bedroom, which Sephiroth entered now.

All the colors were either black or various dark grays, but it was still welcoming. The best part was the fact that he had a nearly circular bed. (One section was strait so that it could go against the wall.) It had black satin sheets, and the bed was actually made for him personally. (Zack somehow got his measurement. He forgot to kill him once he had laid down in the bed… Oh well.)

Sephiroth laid Cloud down in the bed. He then pulled off Cloud's boots, and tucked him in. Here, Cloud woke up some.

"Shhh. It's okay Cloud. You can sleep." Sephiroth said quietly leaning over Cloud.

Cloud cuddled into the blankets. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sephiroth stood up and headed out of the room, but stopped and looked over his shoulder at Cloud before he made in to the door. "And Cloud."

"Yes?"

"Don't hog all of the bed before I get out of the shower."

Cloud flinched. "I won't."

"Good." Sephiroth walked out the door and stopped again. "Good night, Cloud."

"Good night, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth smiled, and then got into the shower…

End


End file.
